Finger glide bar

ABSTRACT

A guitar steel or glide bar for the finger of a guitar player in which the body of the guitar steel or glide bar is long enough on its face to cover the fret board of the guitar and the body is half round in form with a resilient finger fitting ring that may be elastic or a split plastic to permit mounting on the finger but retain a frictional grip, said guitar steel or glide bar formed of a hard material such as metal or plastic to present a frictionless face in contact with the strings of the musical instrument.

I United States Patent [151 3,638,525 Sciurba et al. [4 1 Feb. 1, 1 972 [54] FINGER GLIDE BAR 1,748,053 2/l930 Blair ..84/3 I9 [72] Inventors: Edward Sciurha, Lyndhurst; Sal Chiap- 2248542 7/194 McDamel et pone Benvlue both of Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson [73] Assignee: Ring Products, Newark, NJ, Assistant ExaminerLawrence R. Franklin Attorney-Howard T. .leandron [22] Filed: Sept. 21, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 73,941 ABSTRACT A guitar steel or glide bar for the finger of a guitar player in 52 us. Cl ..s4 319 84 322 which the Steel glide bar is ML CL 2 on its face to cover the fret board of the guitar and the body is [58] Field 0 Sea'rch I9 322 315 half round in form with a resilient finger fitting ring that may be elastic or a split plastic to permit mounting on the finger [56] References Cited but retain a frictional grip, said guitar steel or glide bar formed of a hard material such as metal or plastic to present a friction- U TE TA S PATENTS less face in contact with the strings of the musical instrument.

D3l,l5l 7/1899 Richards ..84/322 X 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEB FEB I i972- INVENTORS sow/mo sauna/a SAL CHJAPPDNE FINGER GLIDE BAR This invention relates to a guitar steel or glide bar that is affixed to the finer for holding the guitar strings down against the fingerboard and for sliding the guitar steel along the fingerboard to produce the Hawaiian sound effect and more particularly the design of the guitar steel that is open on one side and closed on the opposite side and is adjustable to either position to permit normal fingering of the fret board when in an open position and slide fingering of the fret board when in a closed position.

Guitar steels have been designed in various forms such as the straight round (solid or hollow) bar that is held in the hand to slide over the strings to provide certain sound effects with the strings and in another form a semicircular finger form retained on the finger by a resilient spring as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,466,344. The finger form is retained in a tight fit with the finger to preclude endwise movement and being long does not permit bending of the finger at the joint.

It is an object of this invention to provide a guitar steel that is long enough on its face to cover the fret board and a solid metallic face on its playing side but open on its opposite side and retained on the finger in a frictional gripping relationship by a resilient plastic band that is spreadable for mounting on the finger.

A further object of this invention is to provide a guitar steel that is long enough on its face to cover the fret board and a solid metallic face on its playing side but open on its opposite side and retained on the finger in a frictional gripping relationship so that it may be used for playing Hawaiian style and by simply turning l80, the finger is bendable and usable to finger the strings for normal playing.

Other objects of this invention will be apparent by reference to the accompanying detailed description and the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the guitar glide bar mounted on a finger for Hawaiian-style sound effects;

FIG. 2 is a similar perspective view with the glide bar rotated l80 to permit normal fingering of the frets without removing the glide bar from the finger;

FIG. 3 is an end view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the glide bar; and

FIG. 5 is an end view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

In playing a guitar there are two methods of fingering used. The usual fingering of the strings between frets for producing a desired tone is the old method and the use of a guitar steel or glide bar to slide over the strings to produce the Hawaiian sound effect is the other method utilized. In this invention applicants have provided a glide bar that is fitted to one of the fingers of the hand that is controlling the action of the strings in producing the variations in sound.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 there is illustrated a glide bar that is half round in form and the glide bar is provided with a flexible split ring 11 that is affixed to the inner half-round surface of the glide bar at one end thereof. Thus the glide bar and ring 11 is easily slipped over the finger to retain the glide bar in a playing position as illustrated in FIG. 1. Thus the front face of the finger will press the glide bar into a pressing position upon the strings 12 on the neck 14 of the guitar to permit producing the Hawaiian sound effect by moving the glide bar in a sliding fashion over the strings. When it is desired to change the sound effect to the normal fingering of the strings 12, the glide bar is rotated 180 on the finger as illustrated in FIG. 2 thus permitting the glide bar to remain in an accessible position to change back to the other style of music as desired and in this position as illustrated in FIG. 2, it does not inhibit the normal action of the finger during playing of the guitar.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5 the glide bar 10 may be formed half round to fit the configuration of a finger and the holding ring 11 is cemented to the interior surface of the glide bar as illustrated. The ring 11 may be a stretchable material to provide a good gripping relation with the finger. Or, the ring 11 may be a split ring having a resiliency so that it may be opened for mounting u n the fin er but retain a ti ht grip ing relationship upon t e finger. e ring may be 0 a resl rent metal or the ring may be of a resilient plastic.

It is to be noted that the metal body 10 of the glide bar may be shaped on the inner surface or may be perfectly half round as shown to provide a comfortable fitting relationship with the finger and the exterior surface of the glide bar must be finished to a highly polished surface such as by plating and polishing to reduce any degree of friction with the strings and reduce all wear in its normal use. The size of the glide bar may be varied to produce a fitting glide bar for a small, a medium or a large finger or the glide bar may be the same in form but the ring 11 varied to permit the proper fitting according to the finger.

Although we have illustrated a glide bar of a particular size, the size may be varied without departing from the spirit of this invention and although we have illustrated a guitar neck and strings, the glide bar may be used with any stringed instrument as desired and although we have specified that the glide bar is formed of a highly polished metal, the glide bar may also be made with a plastic as long as the surface retains a highly polished finish without departing from the spirit of this invention and although we have illustrated the glide bar as half round in form, the glide bar may be more than half round in fact it may be shaped to a full round position at the one end with a split to permit mounting on the finger as illustrated in the drawings without departing from the spirit of this invention.

The invention described in detail in the foregoing specification is subject to changes and modifications without departing from the principle and spirit thereof. The terminology used is for purposes of description and not of limitation; the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A guitar glide bar comprising a body of semicircular cross section elongated to conformably receive a major portion of the underside of a players finger, the rear end of said body being open and the forward end of said body being closed by a semicircular segmental portion to comformably receive the tip of the players finger, the rear end of said body provided with a ring-shaped band to fit a finger and retain said body engaged with the underside of the player's finger.

2. In a device according to claim 1 in which said ring-shaped body is resilient and affixed to the internal surface of said glide bar.

3. In a device according to claim 1 in which said ring-shaped body is a split ring of resilient material to expand for mounting about said finger and affixed to the internal surface of said glide bar.

4. In a device according to claim 1 in which said ring-shaped body is resiliently mounted on said finger to permit turning said glide bar into a nonplaying position but easily accessible for returning to a playing position. 

1. A guitar glide bar comprising a body of semicircular cross section elongated to conformably receive a major portion of the underside of a player''s finger, the rear end of said body being open and the forward end of said body being closed by a semicircular segmental portion to comformably receive the tip of the player''s finger, the rear end of said body provided with a ring-shaped band to fit a finger and retain said body engaged with the underside of the player''s finger.
 2. In a device according to claim 1 in which said ring-shaped body is resilient and affixed to the internal surface of said glide bar.
 3. In a device according to claim 1 in which said ring-shaped body is a split ring of resilient material to expand for mounting about said finger and affixed to the internal sUrface of said glide bar.
 4. In a device according to claim 1 in which said ring-shaped body is resiliently mounted on said finger to permit turning said glide bar into a nonplaying position but easily accessible for returning to a playing position. 